Many Circle Researchers are familiar with stories of
large, perfectly formed Rings' having been discovered in ice too thin to support even a
child's weight. I myself have seen photographs of such Rings. I've also seen a picture of
3 impressive in-line Rings situated at the base of a Turkish mountain. What follows,
however, is unique even amid the many wondrous stories of the exquisite Crop
Circle
Phenomenon ...

It is the account of a Russian gentleman, K. Avdeyev,
who witnessed a Ball of Light (BOL) as it apparently manifested an intricate set of
concentric Rings in snow. Mr. Avdeyev lived in an apartment building, and the Moscow
Snow Rings were an unique addition to his backyard.

A point of interest:

The apartment building was located on ... the 'Street
of Freedom'!

The article was translated for me by Leslie Spotkov,
Assistant Director of the North Olympic Library System in Port Angeles, WA. I am most
grateful to Ms. Spotkov for her gracious assistance and expertise.

The following is the English translation of the cover of
the Russian magazine which carried the Snow Rings story in 1991. I do not know if the
periodical is still being published, nor, to my regret, do I have even an old address
through which to contact them. (If anyone has an original copy of this article that they'd
part with in exchange for Crop Circle photos or materials, I'd greatly appreciate their
sending it to me for inclusion in our archives.) I share this information purely for
educational purposes:

UFO NLO Reality

Tsinlo Informator (Slovo) Number 3, 1991

Contents: Circles in the Fields

The 13-year Riddle of the Boat-Lake

Classics

Here is Mr. Avdeyev's first-hand account as it appeared
in the UFO publication in his native Russian; below is the translation. [Emphases are my
own:]

"Moscow: The Street of Freedom

"This was the night of December 20th. I can't say the
exact time, but it was during the middle of the program 'Television News Service'. My
attention was attracted to some kind of unfamiliar light in the window. It seemed to me
that the street looked like daytime, not night-time. I approached the window and a little
to the right of me I glimpsed a fireball of white Light. Its diameter was about 2-3 meters
(~ 6-9 feet). I strained my eyes to determine if this Light was coming from the street. I
raised the curtain simply to convince myself that perhaps the curtain gave some kind of
glare. But I only proved that I was really seeing a Ball of Fire, 2-3 meters in diameter,
like I already said.

"I jumped into the hall to get my camera from the
table. I grabbed the camera and went to the kitchen window. Here I saw the Ball even
better, but this was not really a Ball, rather some kind of circle without a center. It
was inclined.

"I cannot say what kind of object it was with 100%
accuracy, any more than I can say what it was not. There was a strange sensation, [as
though] one were on the road at night and a car came towards you and you were blinded by
the high-beams. You could not see the car, only the light. That was how it felt to me ... I
couldn't really see anything except the blinding Light.

"Several seconds passed, I don't know [how many]. I
took out my camera, but my head was spinning. I tried to take snapshots, even
though the film was not for night photos. I thought I could make exposures [but] the
object began to move. It withdrew [away] from the house and disappeared in about 50-60
seconds. Practically a moment and I could no longer see it. How did it leave? I cannot
say; either up, or around a 45-degree corner, that was it. I stayed up about 30 minutes
longer, then went to bed.

"In the morning about 10 o'clock, I went to the
kitchen to drink some tea. A neighbour called and said, 'Did you look out the window?
There is something incomprehensible!'

"I looked out and I myself could not understand the
sight below my own window ... it was astonishing!

"The approximate time I had been observing? About
40 seconds, a minute at the most. When could this have been made? As it was
leaving, moving up, it seemed to me, [it was] followed behind by some kind of tail;how
many, I don't know.

"There, if you please, is the whole thing. [Only the]
photographs of the Circles remain. I took them from the window [and shot] what [the Light]
had left below. For more, you must look for yourselves."

Photo Captions

And so concludes Mr. Avdeyev's straightforward report of
his extraordinary experience. Along with his story, the publication also included several
of his photos taken from the fifth and ninth floors of the apartment building. The caption
for one picture reads: "The diameter of the Circles was 8 meters (~ 24 feet). The
regular step of the Rings spaced 20 centimetres (~8 inches) apart. The height of each
Snow Ring: 6-8 centimetres (~ 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches)."

Three days later on December 23, Mr. Avdeyev again
photographed the Rings from the 9th floor. His caption reads: "Along the perimeter of
the Rings it was sunken. Many footsteps within the Circle, but the structure was still
apparent."

Indeed, there, if you please, is the whole thing, the
story for which we are indebted to HAO Magazine and Mr. K Avdeyev. I would very much like
to obtain copies of the original photos, and would be willing to swap Crop
Circle aerials
of US and/or UK Formations for these of the Snow Rings. If anyone has any information
regarding either the address of the magazine or of Mr. Avdeyev, I'd greatly appreciate
their contacting me.

A Collection of BoLs: Confirmation x3

This is now the third account we've pieced together from
witnesses who have seen these Balls of Light. The best-documented is the videotape footage
shot by John Wheyleigh on August 11 1996 of the Lights we actually see Transmitting the
Oliver's Castle Formation. This past Summer, a group of Czech visitors watched transfixed
as three sets of BoLs performed an aerial ballet over their heads during the hours of
darkness. Though they reported seeing all three sets of Lights, as John did, they were
unable to see the Formation manifesting below them. It wasn't until Dawn broke that one
among them discovered the Gift of the Sky dance at the foot of Milk Hill: the second Koch
Fractal Formation of the Season. In the Russian's story, which chronologically is actually
the first of the three, the gentleman reports that he, too, as the Czechs, witnessed only
the Light that left the Snow Rings behind - he was not aware of the Snow Rings being
Transmitted beneath them.

The Striking Similarities Between All Three
Stories:

Intense White Lights

 Both the Czechs and the Russian emphasise the
brilliance of the Light. A Light shone so intensely on the Czech woman's face that it
awakened her as she slept in her car; she describes how it becomes "whiter and
whiter" as it increases in size, and smaller as its brightness fades. Mr.
Avdeyev
refers to what he saw as a "Ball of white Light ... a Ball of Fire". We can see
for ourselves on the video that the BoLs are indeed bright if we consider their distance
to John's camera. For a downloadable version of the Oliver's Castle Video, click here.

 John's footage (showing us one-and-a-half sets of
BoLs) lasts approximately 18 seconds. The Czechs report that the total elapsed time for
the second and third sets of BoLs* to complete their work was perhaps half-a-minute or
less. Mr. Avdeyev estimates that he watched the single BOL for maybe 40 to 60 seconds.

(* The Czechs report that there was an interval between
the first and second sets of Light ... see their interview for the story.

 The Czech gentleman recounted that the BoLs
"shined ... really intensively, then they just stopped shining ... they ... suddenly
stopped shining"; his friend recalls that the single bright Light they initially saw
faded and suddenly "was gone". Mr. Avdeyev relates that he watched the
fire BOL for approximately 50 seconds, after which "practically a moment and I could no longer
see it." In John's video footage, we see the Lights zip into the distance as they
retrace their path, crossing through two hedgerows before we lose sight of them.

Three Startling "Coincidences" ...

 In each case, as Dawn breaks, a unique Formation is
discovered immediately beneath the area the BoL(s) had passed over minutes to hours
before.

... and a 'Maybe'

 Although the word-of-mouth report of a fourth
incident comes from but a single source, I'll include it here for completeness: A young
man told me that the night before the HugPoint SandRings were discovered by David Jinks
and his friends, he and his own friends had been on the coast south of HugPoint and
watched as a reddish-yellow BoL traveled rapidly above the surface of the Pacific Ocean
from South to North. From his recollection which he shared with me in response to my
SandRings story, we concluded that it was possible for that red-yellow Light to have
passed west of the Hug Point area. Neither he nor his friends saw anything else. Although
this BoL may or may not have had any connection with the SandRings, I think it's an
interesting anecdote.

On The Other Hand ...

I've also been considering a few of the
more striking differences between the first three reports:

Hail, hail, was the Gang all There?

 Of course, the main obvious difference between John
Wheyleigh's/ the Czechs' account and the Russian's is that the former witness 3 sets of
BoLs, while the latter's story features only a single, brilliant Light ... unless
...

At the end of his narrative, Mr. Avdeyev notes that "[the
bright Light was] followed behind by some kind of tail ..."But then he
curiously adds, "...how many, I don't know." Is it
possible that there were other smaller BoLs ... 3 sets of them, to be precise! ... which
he was unable to see due to the blinding brilliance of the large one upon which he
focused? He himself noted, "I couldn't really see anything except the blinding
Light." At this point, it's pure conjecture (though predicated upon other
first-hand reports). I believe that this "some kind of tail" may have consisted
of six smaller Balls of Light surging in the wake of the large one ...

BoLs: Spheres? or Toruses!

 The Russian describes the BoL as "not really a
ball, rather some kind of circle without a centre ... It was inclined."
On the video, most viewers concur that the BoLs appear to be spheres ... although video
analyst Patrick Wilson enhanced a screen
capture of a pair of them, and noted a distinct distortion on the upper surfaces of both
LightSpheres. (I'm wondering if that 'distortion' doesn't disclose more than a
square-pixel-glitch on a screen ...?) The Czech gentleman sees the BoLs as "just
round circles ... round," while his friend illustrates their apparent size by cupping
her hands toward each other and holding them roughly eight inches apart.

I sense that this year's Woodborough Hill Torus Formation
was a major Gift, the study of which will reveal ever-larger chunks of this stimulating
Mystery.

Neither Rain nor Sleet ...nor Time of Day nor Year ...
Stay the CircleMakers' from Their Course

 Neither weather nor temperature seem to affect the
capability of the BoLs, for though John taped the Transmission between periods of
rain, the Czechs witnessed the BoLs from their vehicle,because of the rain.
The Russian does not state whether or not there was precipitation falling (though of
course there was snow on the ground). He notes, however, and his photos confirm, that it
was cold enough for the Rings' structure to be "still apparent" three days
later, even after "many [visitors'] footsteps" had walked over the Pattern.

 Both the '96 Oliver's Castle and '97
Milk Hill
Formations arrived during Summer months; the Russian SnowRings were Transmitted into
several inches of snow during the latter part of December.

 Two of the Formations apparently arrived during the
hours of darkness, while one manifested synchronically with the Dawn's light.

The Sound

 While both the Englishman and the Czech woman
report a Sound which they attribute to the first set of BoLs, the Russian's account does
not mention one. Did Mr. Avdeyev's window remain closed against the cold throughout the
rapidly unfolding Event? Did he have a heater or other electrical appliance running in the
kitchen which might have precluded his hearing The Sound during the few seconds it might
otherwise have been heard? Might he have been hearing-impaired? Was there, indeed, a Sound
to be heard??

While we can only speculate as to why Mr. Avdeyev made no
reference to the Circle-generating Sound, at this point I'm leaning even more heavily
toward the probability that the 'Crop Circle Sound' occurs integrally at the beginning of every
Transmission, coincident with the first - and only the first - set of BoLs.

So there you have them: three stories with several strong
similarities as well as one possible major difference (3 sets of BoLs vs. a single,
stationary FireBoL [whose great luminosity, nonetheless, might have eclipsed any smaller
accompanying BoLs]); and more food-for-thought: a most interesting new prospect to
consider regarding BoLs as Tori, rather than as spheres; and still more tantalising
and unanswered questions regarding The Sound ...

It appears (to my surprise and delight!) that I am
collecting BoL stories ( ! ) ... If any of you have, or know of someone who's had, a
similar experience I'd very much appreciate your contacting me about it. I believe that
The Circles are Arriving for each of us on the planet, and that only through openly
sharing our stories and experiences will we gain a broader perspective regarding
"what on Earth is going on".

If your interest is piqued by the story of the SnowRings
and if you're primed for an additional related story with mind-boggling graphics, you may
want to explore the following:

Oregon's SandRings!

The Pattern of Moscow's SnowRings is almost stunningly
identical to that of the HugPoint SandRings Formation which arrived on wet sand on
Oregon's coast in 1994.